1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to firearm ammunition loading equipment and, in particular, concerns a safety cabinet for storing hand loading and reloading equipment and supplies where the safety cabinet can be portable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reloading, otherwise known as handloading, of firearm cartridges is a popular activity among people who recreationally shoot firearms. Typically, this involves placing powder, a primer and a slug or bullet or shot into a cartridge casing. Often, reloading casings results in a cartridge that is cheaper for a shooter to make than purchase a corresponding manufactured cartridge at a retailer. Moreover, reloading cartridges allows the shooter to vary a wide variety of parameters to optimize the performance of the bullet with the individual characteristics of the shooter's firearm. Parameters like the amount of powder, the depth to which the bullet is seated etc. can be altered or customized to a particular firearm so that the accuracy of the firearm can be improved.
Reloading does, however, require a fair amount of specialized equipment. One piece of equipment is a press that is used to resize a previously fired cartridge case into the desired shape and size. When a cartridge is fired, the heat a pressure causes the cartridge casing to deform. The press is used with a resizing die that reforms the cartridge casing into a desired size and shape. Typically, the press also removes the primer in this process. The press is also used to seat the slugs or bullets into a case that has been reprimed and loaded with powder using a bullet seating die instead of a resizing die. As a considerable amount of pressure is exerted on the cartridge casing during resizing and bullet seating, the press is typically securely mounted to a workbench and the like.
In addition to the press and dies, there is a considerable amount of additional equipment the reloader has to have. The reloader must also have a scale or powder measuring device to ensure that the correct amount of powder is being placed into the cartridge casing. The reloader must also have a tool for inserting new primers into the casing. The reloader must also have a trimming device that allows the reloading to trim cases that are too long as a result of the resizing process. Moreover, various cleaning and deburring tools as well as calipers, polishing tools and the like are part of a reloader's reloading kit.
Further, the reloading must have dies, bullets, casings, and primers for each caliber of bullet that the reloader intends to reload as well as gun powder. All of this equipment and supplies can take up a considerable amount of room and is difficult to move around. Further, many reloaders prefer to have the equipment and bullet components secured in a secure container due to the inherent dangers of the component parts and supplies.
However, there is a lack of adequate storage containers for reloading equipment. Further, most reloaders mount their press on a fixed workbench as the press has to be securely anchored to be able to exert sufficient pressure on the casings to resize the casing and seat the bullets. As such, most reloading kits owned by reloaders are not portable from one location to another which limits the place where the reloader can reload bullets to the location where the press is anchored.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that there is a need for a reloading storage container that is capable of storing the reloading components in useable positions and further includes a mounting surface that the press can be anchored to. There is also a need for the container to be easily secured while still permitting access to allow for the reloading of cartridges.